Things to Consider When Upgrading from Dynamics Nav to Dynamics 365

The process of upgrading from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 has been gradually adopted by thousands of businesses across the globe over the past couple of years.

Dynamics NAV is widely considered to be the best application on the market for enterprise resource planning. Business owners laud its functionality and ease of use, as relating to various areas of production, planning and management.

One may therefore question the need to update an already great product. However, it is important to remember that the upgrade from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 has not been marketed as a great leap forward in terms of functionality. Rather, it is being promoted by Microsoft as a facilitating significant improvements in how resource planning and business management are conducted in the 2020’s and beyond.

Here we take a look at four things that business owners should consider when opting to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

1. Security Features

Dynamics 365 was introduced in November 2016; prior to this Microsoft had been updating various versions of NAV since its first inception with Windows 95. Cybercrime statistics show that in 2010 the number of confidential files breached globally by cybercriminals was 3.8 million. In comparison, by 2016 the number of files breached was 3.1 billion.

Dynamics 365 frees businesses from the burden of managing their own IT security by housing the software in the cloud. The security infrastructure of Dynamics 365 is based off site, meaning that Microsoft are responsible for security measures such as patching updates, managing the security and privacy of your data and automatically backing up all of your data.

Microsoft is at the forefront of cyber security, with their vast data centres around the globe deemed to be the securest form of holding and managing data. Thus, Dynamics 365 is fully equipped to protect your business from the ever-increasing threat of cybercrime.

2. The Clouds Are Gathering

Whilst cloud computing is expected to become the norm for enterprise resource planning over the next 10 years, that does not necessarily mean that your business has to adapt to this change.

Storing data within the cloud definitely has many advantages and is economical for businesses both large and small. Indeed, businesses that place an emphasis on sharing data remotely and making sure that data is available to view at several different geographical locations would greatly benefit from Dynamics 365 cloud storage and security features.

Even smaller businesses, or businesses with a single physical location, can see operational and financial benefits by opting for the wider cloud services of Dynamics 365; largely because of lower costs and reduced risks when compared against physical data storage techniques on-premises.

As such, Microsoft also offers Dynamics 365 as an on-premises software application with a rolling licensing fee. This is essentially a Dynamics 365 light package that enables smaller businesses to gain the benefits of Dynamics 365 without paying a premium for cloud storage, cloud security and mass data storage.[SA3]

3. Consider When to Upgrade to Dynamics 365

The functionality of Dynamics 365 is designed to mirror that of all of the previous incarnations of Dynamics. That is to say, its functionality will be highly familiar with the end user.

It is important to remember, however, that tweaks to existing software applications are designed to save your business time and money in the long-term. No matter how familiar any upgraded software application will be to the user, there are still likely to be teething problems as employees adapt to new software in the short term, regardless of the benefits of the improved functionality of the software in the long-term.

This is a somewhat ironic circumstance in that any software upgrade is designed to save a business time and money and yet, over the course of the short term, productivity levels may dip as a result of employees getting to grips with new software.
It is thus recommended that any upgrade to Dynamics 365, or any updated software application for that matter, be implemented when the workload of a business is low so as to make the software transition as smooth as possible.

4. Compatibility

Dynamics 365 offers five different types of user portals, offering users the option to choose the portal that works best for their business. These templates enable a business to structure Dynamics 365 as an employee service portal; a customer portal; a community portal; a customer self-service portal or a partnership portal, depending on which template best suits the needs of your business.

Each portal offers different benefits for different types of businesses and enables the internal flow of data to be faster and more reliable.

It is important to remember that Dynamics 365 is a Microsoft product and it is thus designed to work optimally with other Microsoft products and services. If your business primarily uses Microsoft products (and already uses Dynamics NAV) then upgrading to Dynamics 365 will be a smooth transition. Compatibility issues may however arise if your systems are not wall-to-wall Microsoft.

The Dynamics of Dynamics 365

Microsoft is looking to the future with Dynamics 365 by placing a large importance on security, cloud storage and remote access to shared data. Any business that places an emphasis on these facets of technology will no doubt greatly benefit from investing in the move from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365.

Wondering what the implications of this upgrade might be for your business? Talk to the experts at Dynavics today. We’ve successfully moved many companies, large and small, from older versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV on to the latest versions of Dynamics 365.

We focus on moving businesses over when they’re ready to move; when it’s suitable from both a financial and operational perspective. We don’t move companies over just because it’s an opportunity for us to sell our services – in fact, we are also more than happy to offer support packages on older Microsoft Dynamics NAV installations if it’s the right thing for your business!

Curious to learn more? Contact us today!